Finance Minister and Religious Zionist Party Chairman Bezalel Smotrich declared during a press conference on Tuesday that he intends to sign an eviction order for Khan al-Ahmar, an illegal Bedouin outpost east of Jerusalem.
According to Smotrich, the order is a response to actions by the Palestinian Authority, which led the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and the intention to now issue one for him as well.
"Issuing of an arrest warrant for the Prime Minister is a declaration of war. Issuing an arrest warrant for the Defense Minister and the Finance Minister is a declaration of war. We will respond to a declaration of war with war. I am not a submissive Jew. The PA launched a war, and a war it will get," Smotrich declared.
He added, "At the conclusion of my remarks, I will sign the order to evict Khan al-Ahmar by the authority invested in me as a minister in the Defense Ministry. This is just the beginning."
He emphasized: "The hands are those of the Hague, but the voice is that of the Palestinians. The terrorist organization that is mistakenly called the Palestinian Authority. A despicable body that was created in the framework of the shameful Oslo [Accords] is the one who, by all indications, is behind the attack on the Israeli Prime Minister and the Israeli government ministers who dare to implement a policy that raises its head in the face of this terrorist organization."
"Personally, they don't move me. I am prepared to pay personal prices to serve my nation. This is a price that if I must pay it, I will do so proudly and with my head high. But on a national level, they aren't hurting Benjamin Netanyahu or Bezalel Smotrich. They are trying to hurt us as the Prime Minister and Finance Minister of the State of Israel."
Earlier in the remarks, the minister noted, "Last night I was informed that a request for a secret international arrest warrant had been filed against me by the criminal prosecutor of the Antisemitic court in The Hague. This request joins the unprecedented arrest warrants issued against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The attempt to force on us a policy of security suicide through sanctions and arrest warrants will not succeed."
"As a sovereign and independent state, we will not accept hypocritical dictates from biased bodies that constantly oppose Israel, our Biblical, historical, and legal rights in our homeland, and our right and obligation to self-defense and security," Smotrich exclaimed.
“In this term, I didn’t make noise. I simply acted, and, thank God, I succeeded. I fulfilled my duty as finance minister and kept Israel’s economy stable amid the turbulent waters of a multi-front war, unlike anything Israel has known since its founding. I had the privilege of leading a revolution in our biblical, eternal homeland, in Judea and Samaria. I did this not only for my friends and brothers, the pioneering settlers, but because this is what I believe serves the interests of the entire State of Israel. I did it in the name of and for the citizens of Israel, for their welfare and security.
“I did it to prevent my brothers and sisters, the citizens of Israel, from facing a terrible and tangible danger, one that today, after the horrific massacre carried out against us by the Nazis of Hamas on Simchat Torah, we all understand is very real. For years, Israel stammered and feared saying the obvious: this is our land, and we will act in it as homeowners. Over the past three and a half years, we have been doing exactly that, and I am proud to lead this dramatic change. We led a revolution. We thwarted the dangerous Fayyad Plan, which was intended to create rings of pressure around Rosh HaAyin, Modi’in, and Kfar Saba.
“We established more than 100 new communities, along with 160 agricultural farms that safeguard more than one million dunams of state land. We are planning, building, paving, and regulating, making the pioneering settlement enterprise irreversible. I am proud of all this. Very proud," he concluded.
